Mad Coupon Skills to the extreme

I love using coupons, always have, always will. Neal swears if we won the lottery I'd still use coupons and to that I say - heck yeah! I love it when I get something that is worth $10 for $2. Well I was recently introduced to some serious, whole 'nother level, couponing by a friend at church. She has figured out how to use coupons and CVS discounts and store credit/cash. So I've been trying for a few weeks now to get over to her house and learn these skills.

Here's my first attempt. I got $30.47 worth of stuff for 7.68 - that's a 75% savings.

Then I went to Publix and got $166.01 worth of stuff for $96.43 - that's a 52% savings .

And I'm not even that good. I know people who save 79% and 82%. I'm working really hard on learning how to get better!

Check out her site http://www.couponladiesskills.blogspot.com/

Halloween Fun!

I know a little early....but here's what happened. I was trying to distract Dylan and I mentioned, "hey we should get up in the attic and get our Halloween decorations." Two days later, I could not longer hold him off. So today we started to decorate. He tried on a few costumes and took the following pictures (he's my artist - if I leave the camera down he'll take pictures of everything and nothing - thank goodness it's digital and I can hit the delete button.)

So, bust out your Halloween decorations - once Halloween hits, the rest of the fun filled holidays arrive quickly.

P.S. This year we are doing a pirate themed Halloween not the Frank N. Steinhour theme from the past 6 years. I know, why mess with tradition, but Neal made everyone (except Morgan) costumes and we have tons of decorations, so it's time to move on. Arrrggghhh!

Plastic Surgery for a One Year Old

Sounds funny - but I suppose technically that's what she had - Otoplasty. Her check up went well. He says there's still swelling, plus the stitches could take up to a month to dissolve. I'll be honest - it's not as pretty as I was hoping, but Neal keeps reminding me there is at least one more surgery to go. I guess for plastic surgery I was hoping for a nearly normal looking ear. The fact is the ear is smaller and we are hoping with this surgery that the cartilage has become unrestricted and can now grow better. He had to add skin to the top of the ear which made it thicker than a normal ear. Plus it's still quite red. Here's hoping to long hair soon. Besides she is beautiful!